Spicing up the Food Court…Nielsen Community Centers Study…Millenials and the Real World…details in the latest DMM e-news

Adding Some Spice to the Shopping Center Food Court

If your food court features more than fast food – perhaps classes on food preparation, high-end food with international flair, then you're guilty – guilty of providing a communal experience for your customers! Todd Semrau, the owner of a restaurant consulting company, blogged recently about the need for food courts to modernize and become “a place to engage the public domain, a destination for healthier eats and, in some instances, a champion for the betterment of food.” In his blog post on the Atlanta Business Journal web site, Semrau cited different examples of shopping centers that went through food court upgrades as part of an overall strategy to bring in and maintain their customer base.

DMM Data Used in Nielsen Study on Community Centers

The evolution of shopping centers into community centers in today's digital world often isn't given the credit it deserves. Consumers are pummeled with doom-and-gloom stories about shopping at the mall versus online without an intelligent reading of the data first. Nielsen, the global information and measurement company (famously known for its TV rating system) reviewed the numbers (including data from DMM) and found that despite the naysayers, when one considers “the role shopping centers play in American culture, the industry landscape remained stable from 2013 to 2014, indicating growing stability in shopping center development.” Nielsen concluded that “consumers want shopping centers to provide a one-stop shop for retail and entertainment they can't get through online shopping…”from specialty cafes and wine bars to concerts and yoga classes.”

It's Officially a Trend: Millennials Prefer to Shop in the Real World

In our last newsletter we learned from two different surveys that Millennials preferred to spend their money in shopping malls versus online. We also learned that they can be a “quirky and unpredictable” bunch. A third (and therefore a trend), recent report by OpinionLab supports the notion that Millennials indeed prefer the mall to the digital shopping experience. In an article posted by CNBC.com content editor Krystina Gustafson, it was found that 37 percent of Millennials prefer the mall compared to 27 percent preferring to shop online. At the same time, those numbers are nearly reversed when it comes to older, non-Millennials.

DISSECTING THE DATA:

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